Analysis

Veerankutty Chelatayakkot, “Authority control of romanised arabic names in online public access catalogue” , Thesis. Department of Library and Information Science ,University of Calicut, Kerala, 2005.

Chapter 5

ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the Arabic alphabets along with corresponding standardized Roman

alphabet were compared with alphabet used by the people. The alphabets are grouped as

consonants and vowels.

Consonants

K and Q

U

The letter K and Q are simultaneously used in transliterating Arabic letter d. As

per the Library of Congress Romanization Table (LCRT) 3 is transliterated as Q The 3

may come on the beginning or at the end of the name like JAG (Kader),?G (Qasim) 3 b !

(Ishaq ).Some examples are given in the Table 5.1.

Table 5.1 : Names Spelt by K or Q

Name Qadir

Ishaq

Qasim

Tar iq

Farooq

Name in Arabic

J~Ei

3L!

3~~

Name as Headings in LCNAF Hamza, Abdel Kader.

Qadir, Abdul, Sir, 1874-1 95 1

Ishaq, Ashfaq, 1953

Ishak Efendi, 1679-1 734

Qasim, Abd al-'Az-iz, 1933

Kasim, Anwar

Tariq, Abdur-Rahman, 191 5-

Tarik, Hidayat 'AI-i Najaf i, 1894-939

Farook, Hossain Muhammad

Farooq, Abdul Aziz

The regional languages are highly influencing in transliteration of Arabic letter 3

For example, in Malayalam ,j is transliterated as &/m like Kader as &on&/suoed and

Qasim as m m 1 o /mocruI o . Generally m is used for ,j at the end of the Malayali muslim

names as in &J / Rafeeql odqmU and d h ! / Ishaq / gcruVnn3mU. SO while writing the

above mentioned Arabic names from Malayalam into English, they use K for and Q

for m. The spelling variation is occurred due to the influence of regional languages.

S and Z

The Arabic letter and j are Romanised as S and Z respectively. The

pronunciation of @ and S, j and Z are more or less similar. This two letters are not

confusing to transliterator. However, transliteration of these two letters through the

regional languages creates variant spellings. Some names are given in Table 5.2.

Table 5.2: Names Spelt by Z or S

Name Zuhra

Zaid

Zuhair

Zubair

Aziz

Name in Arabic

O 9 . j

+j

9.j

#j

A.3

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Suha-ra, Bi. Em

Nur Nina Zuhra

Zaid, Abdulla S., 1945-

Said, A. Fuad, 1924-

Suhair Cunkatta-ra

Zuhair, Vah-id

Zubair, Shah Muhammad, 1884-

Subair Vempall-ur, 1959-

Asis

Aziz, Abdul, 1884-.

In Malayalam,both and j is represented by m only. There is no equivalent to Z /

j in Malayalam. So, when transliterating Malayali Muslim names having the letter j, m

is used which may be again transliterated as S in English instead of Z. Here are some

examples.

Arabic Malayalam English

33 mm7m" Asis instead of Aziz

&d &j aamcn~nuqd Sainuddin instead of Zainuddin

4 j aammU Said instead of Zaid.

S and SH

The Arabic letter &I is Romanised as SH and o~ is Romanised as S. For example,

JrS as Bashir and & as Saleem. However, it is found that some people are using S to

represent $ in Arabic. Here are some examples in Table 5.3.

Table 5.3: Names Spelt by S or SH

Name

Shahida

Ashraf

Shamsuddin

Shihab

Shamir

Name in Arabic PJGG

d&i

&A 4

U&

&

Name as Headings in LCNAF

S-ahid: Begama, 1955-

Shahidah Begam.

Ashraf, A. B., 1935-

Asraf Hj. A. Wahab, 1927-

Shamsuddin, AbulKalam M.

Samsuddin, M.

Shihab, 'Abd al-Q-adir Muhammad

Sih-abudd-in Poyttumkatav, 1963-

Shamir Hassan, S.

Sameer, Ahlned Firoze

The variation in spelling occurs due to the influence of regional languages. In

Malayalam, &I is represented by the letter m /m. For example, Bashir as srud1d/srum7d.

When people writing their name in English they use S or SH as they like Here are some

names in Malayalam. .

Arabic Malayalam

mn13°0nclU/m~U~nnU

A mrn763/mrn7d

English

AshrafIAsraf

T and TH

The narrow differences in pronunciation of Arabic letters b and are the reason

for spelling variation of T and TH. As per the LC Romanization Table, L is Romanised as

T , b as and A as TH. However people uses TH to represent b in Arabic. Here are some

examples in Table 5.4.

Table 5.4: Names Spelt by T or TH

Name Mustafa

Latief

Talib

Talha

Fathima

Name in Arabic

+

$

.&

L&,

&G

Name as Headings in LCNAF Musthafa Kamal Pasha, 1939-

Nas-ir, Mustafa Abd al-Maj-id

Latief, Abdul, 1926-

Lathief, A. K.

~ - a l i b , - ' ~ b d al-Rahm-an bin Ahmad

Thalib, Mosthamir, 1963

Talhah Abd. Latiff

Thalha, Mohmed

Kapil, Fathima Kutty

Fatima,C

In Malayalam, the Arabic letter and L are represented by the letter m and m

respectively. For example, Musthafa as mbcruumclo Lathief as e~mstro" and Taha as

mom. There is no equavalant to 1 TH in Malayalam. The correct pronunciation of

in Malayalam is m . However, it is used only in few names. So, when transliterating L and

G into English through regional languages, peoples are using T and TH simultaneously

and it would cause spelling variations.

G and J

J

c v

G

G is rarely found transliterated form of Arabic letter c. The pronunciation of c is very much similar to J in English. The practice of using G for c is found in Egyptian

names. For example, Gamal Abdul Nasar , Gemal-el-Dine Pacha. Some other examples

are given in Table 5.5.

Table 5.5: Names Spelt by J or G

Name

Jabir

Jamal

Jalal

Name in Arabic

.A

6

~b

Name as Headings in LCNAF

J-abir ibn Hayy-an.

G-abir, Hayy-an ibn

Gamal-Eldin, Saad M

Jamal, 'Abd al-Fatt-ah, 1938

Jal-al, 'Abd al-'Az-iz 'Abd All-ah

Galal, Ahmed, 1948

F and PH

PH is the rarely found transliterated form of Arabic alphabet A, which is usually

Romanised as F. The practice of using PH to represent Arabic letter d is widely found in

Egypt and Malaysia. Here are some examples in Table 5.6.

Table 5.6: Names Spelt by F or PH

Name

Mustafa

Q and KH

Latif

As per the LC Romanization table the Arabic letter & is transliterated as Q and i is

Name in Arabic

+

transliterated as KH like yG as Qasim and as Khalid. But in practice people uses KH

7

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Mustapha, Abdul Raufu

U

instead of Q to represent the Arabic letter h (Q). Some examples are given in Table 5.7

Musthafa.

Latt-iph, N. K. A., 1936

Lathiful Khuluq, 1968-

Table 5.7: Names Spelt by Q or KH

The spelling variations shown above occur due to the influence of regional

languages in transliteration process. In Malayalam, the Arabic name JJE IQadir is

transliterated as wond. But there is no equivalent to Q in Malayalam. So, while people

transliterating their name into English from Malayalam, they uses KH to represent the

Malayalam letter w.

Name

Qadir

Qasim

Qamar

KH and K

It is a common spelling variation. The Arabic letter t: is transliterated as KH. In

Name in Arabic

4

4

practice, some names having the letter i: is transliterated as K. Some examples are given

below.

Table 5.8: Names Spelt by KH or K

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Khader, Naser, 1963-

Q-adir, Ahs-an, 1912-1969

Khazim, ' AI-i Hasan

Qasim, 'Abd al-Sattar

Khamar, Ali.

Qamar, 1901-1951

Name

Khaleel

Khalid

Khadija

Name in Arabic

&

dL

*L

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Kaleel, M. C. M.

Khaleel, Raz (Raziuddin)

Haun,Wadih Kalid Atallah

Khalid Abd al Aziz,I 966

Kadija, Refik

Khadija Mohamed Awaleh

In Malayalam, su is more accurate transliteration of e. But, some people are using

'h' to write their name, as they like.

GH and G

The Arabic letter is transliterated as GH in English. However, it is also seen that

some people are using G to represent the same. For example,

Table 5.9: Names Spelt by GH or G

V and W

Name

Ghafoor

Ghalib

Ghania

Ghani

The Arabic letter J is transliterated as W in English. However, it is also seen that

people are using V to represent 3. Some examples are given in Table 5.10.

Name in Arabic

J $

od i)k

g &

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Abdul Gafoor, A. L. M.

Ghafoor, Abdul

Galib, Hamid

Ghalib, Asadullah

Ghania, Maleem Mahmoud

Gania, Mahmoud, 1950-

Gani, A. B. M. Osman

Ghani, Abdul, 1941

Table 5.10: Names Spelt by W or V

The above mentioned problem arises due to the similarity of pronunciation

in between V and W.

S and SS

Name

Anwar

Munavvar

Vahida

Javad

Tanvir

SS is the emphasized form of S. The Arabic alphabet W is Romanised as S.

However, in some names, it is found that double S is used to represent the Arabic letter W,

when that letter is stressed in pronunciation. In Arabic-English transliteration process,

'double letter' is used to represent emphasized form of Arabic letter. For example as S

&as SS, p as M and i as MM. But in practice double letter are used in the place of single

letter. A few examples are given in Table 5.1 1.

Name in Arabic

o h l J

J\J+

2s;;

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Anvar 'AI-i, Sayyid, 1928-

Anwar, Abdul Aziz

Munawar Lakhnav-i, 1 897-1 970

Munawar, Mohiuddin

Munawwar, Muhammad, 1923

Nainar, Vahida

Wah-idah, Subh-i

Jawad, Abdallah, 1946-

Javad, Ahmad, 1892- 1937

Tanw-ir, Muhammad Hal-im

Tanvir, 1968-

Table 5.1 1 : Names Spelt by S or SS

In Malayalam the letter S is transliterated as m and almost all names having the

letter is using S. For example, W Rlusainlnn~aamcd ~ y / ~ o u s e f / rm(mnoU.

But, the name Hasan is written as n n ~ d by the Malayalies.

Name

Husain

Masoud

Yousef

Jasir

Qasim

M and MM

The Arabic letter p is transliterated as M and i, the emphasized form of p, is

transliterated as MM. However, there is practice of using M to represent (MM) and MM

to represent ?(M). Some examples are given in Table 5.12.

Name in Arabic

J

-g!

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Husain, A. B. M., 1934

Hussain, A. Imtiaz, 1953

Massoud, Ahmad Shah

Masouduzzafar.

Yousef, Ahmed, 1950-

Youssef, Abdel Fattah

Al-Jasser, Jasser Abdulrahman.

J-asir, Muhammad T-ah-a, 1928-

Abdullah, Qassim Abdul-Jaleel.

Qasim, 'Abd al-Kar-im, 19 14- 1963

77

Table 5.12: Names Spelt by MM or M

The name Muhammad is common name among Muslims and by that, a number of

variant spellings are found in writing this name. There are 28 variant forms of

'Muhammad' in use. This may be influence of the regional languages and pronunciation

differences in the transliteration process. In Malayalam, Muhammad is transliterated as

m~nnameo with am (MM). At the same time, the name Ahmad is transliterated in two ways

ie m n n a m n o 1 m n n m n o with single and double M.. For example 2 . m n n a m n o

(E. Ahammad M.P). This spelling variation has occurred due to the pronunciation

difference.

Name

Muhammad

Muzammil

Ahmad

Y and YY

YY is the emphasized form of Y. The Arabic letter 6 is transliterated as Y and

Name in Arabic

i4-1

50)

A\

as W. However, while transliterating the name having $ people may use Y and vice

versa. Some examples are given in Table 5.13.

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Muhammad, A. Rasyid, 1953

Muhamad, Ali

Muzamil, A. R.

Muzammil, Mohd., 1953-

Ahmad, 'Abb-as, 1923-1978.

Ahammad, En. I. E., 1932-1989

Table 5.13: Names Spelt by Y or YY

In Malayalam, the name Ayyub is written as m ~ g m U / m a x g m U as similar in

English.

Name

Ayub

Dayyani

Khayam

Hayyan

Dayyub

VOWELS

Majority of spelling variations in transliteration process occurs in vowel

transliteration. In Arabic, there are three vowels and in English, it is five. While

transliterating Arabic name into English, people are using different combinations of

English vowels. This kind of spelling variations occurs in between 'i' and ie, 'U' and 'o',

'i' and 'y' (y is not a vowel, but the pronunciation is very similar to 'i'), 'i' and 'e', 'U' and

'ou', 'e' and 'U', '00' and 'U'. The major reason for such kind of spelling variations is the

pronunciation difference of Arabic name by non-Arabic people.

'i' and 'e'

Name in Arabic

+$

dkJ

L; e

d b

+%J

'i' and 'e' are vowels in English and there are corresponding vowels in Arabic

also. Some Arabic name starting with 'i' are transliterated as 'e' also. For example,

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Ayub, Mahmood Ali, 1948-

Ayy-ub, 'Abd al-Razz-aq

Dayy-an-i, B i hn-am

Day-an-i, B ihnam

Omar Khayyam

Khayam, Massoud

Hayy-an, Muharnmad

Hayane, Omar

Day-ub, Suhayr Y-usuf

Dayy-ub, Mahm-ud Radw-an

Ibrahim as Ebrahim. This practice is predominantly seen in African countries. Some

examples are given below:

Table 5.14: Names Spelt by I or E

This is the influence of regional languages and culture. The same case may occur

Name

Ibrahim

Ismail

Ishaq

Ilyas

Irfan

in the middle of the name. But it is a common spelling variation among transliterated

Arabic names. This kind of spelling variations occurs due to the vowel transliteration. A

Name in Arabic

p'>!

G'-!

PW!

few examples are given in Table 5.15.

Table 5.15: Names Spelt by E or I

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Ebrahim, Moosa.

Ibrah-im, 'Abd al-'AI-im

Ism-a'-il, 'Abd al-Fatt-ah

Esmail, Aziz

Es'haq, Mohammad

Ishaq, Ashfaq, 1953

Elyas Omar

I l y a s Ahmad, 189 1 - 1960.

Erfan, Niaz

Habib, Irfan, 193 1 -

Name as Headings in LCNAF Naser, Saleh A.

Nasir, 'Abd All-ah

S-alih, 'Abd al-Q-adir, 1908-

Saleh, Abdul Rachman, 1943-

Qadir, Asghar

Qader, Shaik A., 1932-

Hashem, Abul.

Hashim, A. S. 1927-

Hamed, Amir, 1962-

Hamid, A. Shamad.

Name Nasir

Salih

Qadir

Hashim

Hamid

Name in Arabic

yCj

+

Fk

&L

'i' and 'a'

It is a common spelling variation among transliterated Muslim names. It occurs

due to pronunciation difference and the influence of regional languages. Here are some

examples in Table 5.16.

Table 5.16: Names Spelt by A or I

In Malayalam the name (Nasir) is written in two ways i.e., m~1-~d/m3cruld

Name

Nasir

Yasir

Qadir

Jasir

Tahir

Same is the case in the other names mentioned above.

'0' and 'U'

Name in Arabic

yL

r 4

~4

9&,

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Nasar, S. A.

Nasir, A. S., 1928-

Yasar, Izzet, 195 1 -

Yasir Abdul Rahman, 1957-

Qadir, Abdul, Sir, 1874-195 1

Qadar Bilgram-i, 1833-1883.

Jas-ar, 'AI7

J-asir, Muhammad T-ah-a, 1928-

Tahar, Ahmed

T-ahir, 'Abd All-ah, 1955-

Some Arabic names starting with vowel c (U) are widely transliterated with variant

spellings. Some people use '0' instead of 'U'. For example, 9 as UmarIOmar. A search

in World Biographical Index shows total 58 hits under Othman and 27 hits under Uthman.

As per the LC Romanization Table, is transliterated as U. But regional languages

influence the transliteration process and people uses different spellings. For example, the

name Uthman with spelling Othman is widely used in Malaysia. The name Umar with

spelling as Omar is widely seen in countries like Egypt, Espana and Brune. Also, the name

starting with (U) is transliterated as '0'. A search in Google under Osama bin Ladan

retrieved 92% while under Usama bin Ladan retrieved only 4%. Here are some names

with spelling '0' and 'U'.

Table 5.17: Names Spelt by 0 or U

'i' and 'ee'

Name

Uthman

U mar

Ubaidullah

Usama

Uwais

Name in Arabic

cj&

9

djj\ +

LIWI

1 G%

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Othman Alhabshi, Syed

Uthm-an, 'Abd al-Rahm-an

Omar, Abdullah

Umar, ' Abd al-Rah-im, 1929-

Ubaidullah, M., 1957-

Obaidullah, A. K. M

Bin Laden, Osama, 1957-

Usamah ibn Munqidh, 1095-1 188

Owais, Naim

Uwais, Mohammed Lawal

The Arabic vowel ! is transliterated as 'i' and G as 'ee'. For example, J as

Jasir and J L$ c (-) as Majeed.. However, people use 'i' instead of 'ee' to represent

(E in their names. So, they write Majeed as Majid. Some examples are given below:

Table 5.18: Names Spelt by I or EE

Habeeba Zubair

This kind of spelling variation occurs due to pronunciation difference and the

influence of regional languages.

'i' and 'ie'

'i ' and 'ie' are simultaneously used to represent (ya) in Arabic. This kind of

spelling variation occurs in the name having the vowel (ya) in the middle or at the end

of the name. Some other examples are given in Table 5.19.

83

Table 5.1 9: Names Spelt by I or IE

This kind of spelling variation is occurs due to the pronunciation difference in

regional languages.

'U' and '0'

Name

Bashir

Lathief

Faried

Zaid

Hussien

The Arabic vowel is transliterated as 'U' in English. Almost all transliteration

table uses 'U' to represent Arabic vowel I The name L ( 5 p C 8 (Muhammad) is

transliterated as Muhammad as per the transliteration table. But in practice, a study reveals

that 32% of the people having the name Muhammad use 'Mohammad' in writing. This

may the influence of different culture .For example a search for Muhammad in World

Biographical Database retrieved 981 records while mohammad retrieved 701 records.

Name in Arabic A

Lhtlt

4.9

4j

+

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Bashir, Abdullahi

Bashier, Salman H., 1964-

Khuluq, Lathiful, 1968-

Lathief, A. K.

Far-id, 'Abd al-Rahm-an, 19 19-

Faried, Sarnir

Zaied, Abdalla A.

Zaid, Abdulla S., 1945

Hussin, Jabbar Yassin, 1954-

Hussien Alattas, Syed

Among 701 records 98% persons having to Indian subcontinent. Similarly a search

for the name Hossain retrieved 30 entries. Among these 27 are/were Pakistanis 2 Indians

and 1 others. Here are some names having the spelling 'U' and '0'.

Table 5.20: Names Spelt by U or 0

Hossain, Anwar, 1948-

Mustafa'Abd al-Mun'im Fahm-i.

Mobashar, Mahr Ghulam Ali

'i' and 'y'

The Arabic vowel 3 is transliterated as ' i ' and 'y' in English. People are also using

'i' and 'y' simultaneously to represent 3 in Arabic. A few examples are given in Table

5.21

8 5

Table 5.21 : Names Spelt by I or Y

This may happen due to the similarity of pronunciation of 'i' and 'y'. In

Malayalam the name Saif is transliterated as oacruclou/ocrucru"nou .The regional

language also influence the transliteration process.

'a' and 'e'

It is a common spelling variation while transliterating Arabic name having the

vowel / (a). Every letter in Arabic with vowel / (a) is transliterated as 'bay( +) 'tha7(&),

'ja' (c) etc.,. However in practice, people are using 'e' instead of 'a' in writing their

names in English. For example J V 4 1 (A\ ) as Akbar / Akber. In Malayalam, it is

written as ma,umCa with short vowel i.e., Akber. A search in World Biographical Index

retrieved 62 entries under Akbar while 6 in Akber. Other examples are given in table 5.22

86

Table 5.22: Names Spelt by A or E

'U' and 'ou'

Name Muhammad

Ahmad

Akbar

Mahdi

Mahmud

As per the LC Romanization Table I is transliterated as 'U' and g! as fi .So, the

name j p 2 p (L) is transliterated as 'Muhammad' and pj $(L%) as Yusuf .

But in practice, two kinds of spelling variations occur while writing the Arabic name

having the vowel in English. One is that people uses 'U' to transliterate both 1 and JI

For example 'Muhammad' and Yusuf. The second type of error occurs when people use

'ou' to transliterate Arabic vowel g\ instead of as indicated in LC Romanization Table.

Here are some other examples in Table 5.23.

Name in Arabic L

L\

4

J-

Name as Headings in LCNAF Muhammad, A. Rasyid, 1953-

Muhammed, Idris N., 1952-

Ahmad, 'Abb-as, 1923-1 978

Ahmed, A. Karim, 1939

Kakkattil, Akbar, 1954-

Akber, Md. Ali, 1948

Mehdi, Ali

Mahd-i, 'Abd al-Maj-id

Mehmud, Salim, 1935-

Mahm-ud, 'Abd al-Ghan-i

Table 5.23: Names Spelt by U or OU

This kind of spelling variation occurs due to pronunciation differences and the

influence of regional languages.

'a' and 'ule'

Name

Yousef

Younes

Sabur

Nur

Mahmud

While transliterating any two Arabic letters into English, there will be a vowel to

connect the two letters. For example p (S) +d (f) = L as saf/sef/suf , so the name

Name in Arabic

&g?

&g!

J~

JY

3-

h% is transliterated as Yusaf/Yusef/Yusuf. Two examples are given below.

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Y usef-Zadeh, Farhad

Yousef, Mohamed A. M.

Y-unus, 'Abd al-Ham-id.

Younus, Muhammad.

Sabour, Mohammad, 1936-

Sabur, Nizar, 195%.

N-ur Ahmad Amritsar-i, d. 1930.

Nour, Mohamed A.

Mahmud, Abbas, 194 1 -

Mahmoud, As'ad.

Table 5.24: Names Spelt by A,U, or E

Name

Yousuf

Younus

Name in Arabic

&%

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Yousaf, Mohammad, 1 937-

Yousuf, A. R.

Yousef, Mohamed A. M.

Younes, Jamal

Younus, Muhammad.

Younas, Malik Mohammad

This kind of spelling variation occurs due to the influence of regional languages in

transliteration process. In Malayalam, the name 'Yunes' is written as crugmcruu/car~m~cruU

When people write their name in English, they use different spellings.

'U' and '00'

This kind of spelling variation occurs while transliterating the Arabic vowel~l . As

per the LC Romanization Table, 91 is Romanised as 'd. But people uses 'oo' to represent

91. Some examples are given below:

Table 5.25: Names Spelt by IJ or 00

Name

Faruq

Maimuna

Mahmud

Mahbub

Mahfuz

Name in Arabic

69 J~

qi g.

J.P-

v*

j+

Name as Headings in LCNAF

F-ar-uq, 'Abd al-Kh-aliq

Farooq, Abdul Aziz

Maimunah Isrnail

Maimoona, Begum, 1933-

Mahmood, Akhtar

Mahmud, Abbas, 1941 - Mahbub, A. Q. M.

Mahboob Ahmad

M a h f uz, 'Abd al-Mun'im

Ali Mahfooz

0 and 00

In few names, double 0 is used instead of single 0. For example,

Table 5.26: Name Spelt by 0 or 00

Name as Headings in LCNAF

Mansor Ahmad Saman, 1949-

Mansoor, Ali M.

Abdul Gafoor, A. L. M.

Ghafor, Abdulla

Name

Mansoor

Ghafoor

Name in Arabic

J-

j k

Conclusion

The analysis shows that following pairs of alphabets are simultaneously used in

transliterated Arabic names.

Table 5.27: Pairs of Letters Simultaneously Used in Romanised Arabic Names